Ratings: Sony Open Puts Up No Fight Against NFL Playoffs

Thanks to the postponement of Sunday's Chiefs-Steelers game originally slated for an early Sunday start, ESPN's presentation of the Latin America Amateur Championship was the top rated golf telecast last weekend. The LAAC averaged 550,000 viewers over a 2:37 window from 1 pm-3:37 pm ET.

According to SportsTVRatings.com, the next highest rated golf telecast came from Florida, where the Diamond Resorts Invitational drew an incredible average of 350,000 viewers over three hours.

As the epic and hugely-rated Packers-Cowboys game was played on Fox and as the hugely-rated Chiefs-Steelers began on NBC, the Sony Open averaged  282,000 viewers on Golf Channel from 5:58 pm ET to 10:17 pm. Matters were not helped by Justin Thomas's runaway win (even though he was pursuing history). Multiple replays got the "cumulative audience" well up from that, but the message is fairly clear: live golf has no chance against the NFL.

On Saturday against more NFL playoff action, the Sony (7-10:42 pm ET) drew an average of 283,000 viewers while the Diamond Resorts, also on Golf Channel but not up against Atlanta-Seattle from 1:20-4:30 pm ET, averaged 252,000 viewers.